Means for building subaqueous structures, such as sea walls, dock walls, and retaining walls, above and below water, and the like



Nov. 20, 1923. 1,474,538

J. F. MATTHEWS MEANS FOR BUILDING SUBAQUEOUS STRUCTURES, SUCH ASSEA-WALLS, DOCK WALLS, AND RETAINING WALLS, ABOVE AND BELOW WATER ANDTHE LIKE Filed March 10 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 w fiiim fis g i I i d "i 5KM i i o f I I Fig.1

h ,IZ'Mafi fi mow av fi XM ATTORNEY J. F. MATTHEWS CTUREIS, SUCH AS SEAWALLS,

MEANS FOR BUILDING SUBAQUEOUS STRU Nov. 20

DOCK WALLS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Marchv l0 '1920 AND RETAINING WALLS,ABOVE ANDBELOW WATER AND THE LIKE Nov. 20 1923. 1,474,538

TTHEWS J. F. MA MEANS FOR BUILDING SUBAQUEOUS STRUCTURES, SUCH AS SEALLS, DOCK WALLS,

AND RETAINING WALLS, ABOVE AND BELOW WATER A THE L Filed 920 March 10 3Shee -Sheet 3 1, I W YT??? QLQSAEQUL wax W41 YY W/S Y Tick? "&

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' 'mw mun d ZKM mdnmav JOHN FREDERICK MAtr'rHEWs', on DOVER, ENGLANDMEANS FOR BUILDING SUBAQUEOUS s ranorurvns, SUCH ASJSEA WALLS, nooKWALLIS, AND RETAINING warms, ABOVE AND BELow WATER, AND THE LIKE.

Application filed March 10, 1920. Serial No. 364,841.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN FREDERICK Marrrmws, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain and Ireland, and residing at 29 Heathfield Avenue, Dover,in the county of Kent, England, have invented a certain new and usefulimproved means for building subaqueous structures, such as sea walls,dock walls, and retaining walls, above and below water, and the like, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide simple and efficient meanswhereby sea walls, dock walls, retaining walls and other subaqueous orlike structures may berapidly and cheaply constructed by the use ofcompleted parts which may be constructed in any desired or convenientsituation and then transported to the place where the structure is to bebuilt and it is to be understool that while the appended claims recitesubaqueous structures only, this term is to be taken as including anystructures to which the invention may be applied in practice.

The invention comprises a method ofconstructing such subaqueous or otherstructures which consists in forming from reinforced concrete, aplurality of grooved piles and a plurality of panels, sections orshutters, and erecting the piles and shutters to form pockets or othersuitably shaped spaces or receptacles into which mass concrete or othersuitable filling material is inserted.

The invention also comprises subaqueous and other structures comprisinga plurality of grooved reinforced concrete piles and panels or shuttersfitted into the grooves of said piles to form pockets or other suitablyshaped spaces into which mass concrete or other suitable material isfilled.

The invention also comprises other details and arrangements hereinaftermore particularly referred toi The accompanying drawings illustrateseveral modes of carrying out the invention.

Figure 1 is an outside elevation showing one convenient form of pile inaccordance with the invention.

Figuresfl, 8 and tare views showing various forms of reinforcementswhich may be employed for the piles in accordance with the invention.

Figures 5, 6 and 7 are sectional plans of the reinforcements shown inFigures 2 to 4.

Figure 8 is a plan showing a portion of a structure formed in accordancewith the in vent1on.' i r Figures 9 to 12 are plan views showingvariousforms of keys whichmay be adopted for keying the panels orshutters to the mass concrete or other filling, and

Figures 13 to 16 are sectional views of the respective keys shown inFigures 9 to 12.

In carrying my invention into effect in one convenient manner, as shownfor example in Figure 8,1 form my improved structure from a number ofgrooved reinforced concrete or like piles a into the grooves in whichare inserted sections, panels or shutters Z) forming spaces or pocketsointo which mass concrete or other suitable filling material is inserted,the panels or the like I) being provided with projections or keysorbeing otherwise suitably arranged or adapted so that they may be keyedor anchored securely to the mass concrete or other filling.

The piles and shutters may be erected or constructed in any suitablelocality and when completed may be transported to the place where thestructure is tobe erec'ted, it being obvious that prior to driving thepiles into their intended positions, the foundations for the walls orother structures should be prepared by'dredgingand (or) blasting to formagrip or trench to meet the condi tions of sea beds or those arisingfrom cur-' rents and the like. i

The piles will be driven at such distances apart from one another andthe grooves therein will be dimensioned to suit the dimensions of thecompleted p anels or shutters, and by means of'my invention I pro-v ducea kind of frame work of'moulds or pockets. into which massconcrete orother suitable filling material may be deposited from skips i orotherwise so that by this method dock walls, retaining walls or othersubaqueous or like structures may be readily and rapidly completed.

The piles and shuttering may be suitably constructed, and in thisconnection I have illustrated several modes according to which the samemay be constructed.

In Figures 2 to 4:, the main reinforcement may be provided by meansoftwo angles at of steelor other suitable material running longitudinallyof the piles and adapted to abut on and (or) be secured to a cast ironor other reinforcing shoe e situated at the foot of the pile. The anglesd are bolted totial bracings or reinforcements f, said rein-'forceinents or ,bracings being helically wound in opposite directionsand adapted to be se cured to vertical rods ,i secured to the cast ironor other reinforcing shoe e in the man- 7 ner shown it being clear thatsuclrmay, be

'carried from the main angles in any suit-i able manner. V In the formshown in Figure 2,,the angles are punched or otherwise formed with setsof apertures h, z',forcarrying the transverse or circumferentialbracings or reinforcements,.while in the form shown in Figure 3, Iprovide for the bracing f, tongues or lugs 70 formed by punching in thematerial, the tongues or lugs being bent'alternately in oppositedirections as shown'in Figures 3 and6. j f v.

Figure l is a view of a modified form of reinforcing in which the anglesare cut from theouter edges to form tongues l which, in a similarmanner, are alternately bent in opposite directions as shown;

Such means of providing for thesupport of the circumferential spiral ortransverse.

Wireor other reinforcements serve also as, a grip for the concrete ofthe piles and provide the necessary resistance against stresses set upby the shuttering when the structure is erected,-but it will beunderstood that while various forms have been given by way of example,other suitable forms of reinforcement may be adopted and anyidesired orconvenient method of casting or constructing; the piles; and shuttersmay be' employed. The reinforcements made in this .manner are thenplaced; in a suitable V mould and: liquid cementis then poured in sothat the completed'reinforcedcement pile assumes the shape indicated bythe circumscri'bing dotted lines in the various figures. i

It is preferred to provide means for anchoring the shutters to the'massconcrete or other filling, for which purpose I provide keys orprojections m upon the shutters, such keys or projections beingpreferably formed in one with the panels or shutters and beingstrengthened by the reinforceseas.

.newrsss nients of the latter, four diiferent jtypes of such keys beingclearly illustrated in Fig-'.

ures 9 to 16.

In order to prevent wash of the new conorder to preventitsdis'plac'e'ment 'by' rough WVhen ,the ,ma ss concrete is poured intothe pockets 0 the panels or shutters are securely anchored thereto bykeys or projections being preferably formed in one with the panels orshutters'and strengthenedsections m Various forms of l which vare Vshown in Figures 9 to 16, said keys orv pro-,

struction of four differenttypes of keys beingiclearly shown in thedrawings.

It will be understood that the essential feature of the invention is theconstruction by means of piles and panels,shuttersor the like, and theinvention is not to be limited to the details of constructionhereinbefore given by way of example as these maybe modified within widelimits, within the scope of the appended claims, to suit the particularcharacter of structure to be formed or any practical requirements thatmay have to be fulfilled, and moreover, rubble, sand, clay or othersuitable filling material may be adoptedin place of the mass concretehereinbefore referred to. 7

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let ters Patent is 1. A subaqueous structure comprising incombination a plurality of spaced reinforced concrete plles, panels,secured, to. and .Connectmg ad acent-p1lesso as to form an-enclosed]space, filling material inserted in such space, andkeying members formedon the panels for the purpose of keying the same to the fillingmaterial.

2. For use in subaqueous structures as,

claimed in claim 1, a reinforced concrete pile comprising, anglesrunning, longitudinally' of the pile, ametal'reinforcinggshoe 1 situatedat the foot of the pileiand secured 7' to said angles anddistance-pieces spacing said angles apart. 7 i, In testimonywhereof Ihave signed my name to this specification JOHN FREDERICK ATTHEWS.

